What Gets Measured?

“What gets measured gets done.”

This saying is ingrained in business culture. It is the cornerstone of management by objectives. It is derided by skeptics who retort that what gets measured gets managed. It is used so often that it has become a cliché. And yet, like so many other clichés, there is a lot of truth in this saying.

Measurement is important. Measurement is especially important in times of transformation. Businesses – like the individuals they employee – simply cannot afford not to know whether they are moving forward or not. And so we get to the critical question: what gets measured gets done, but what gets measured?

There is, of course, no single answer to this question. What is important to one department may be of little consequence to another. There is, however, a yardstick by which you can measure prospective metrics: is it an indicator or a result?

To use an analogy from baseball, it’s the difference between measuring batting averages, home runs, wins and a World Series championship. The first two are indicators; the last two are results. The former track the behaviours and performance that enable the team to achieve the desired results.

Whether you are thinking about organizational performance or your own personal achievements, you will have to identify the metrics that truly measure results. Sometimes it will be easy; other times it will be complicated. As difficult as it may be, however, it is important to make sure you measure the things that truly count. After all, only the most statistically-obsessed fans remember Manuel Lee’s batting average in 1992 but almost every Toronto Blue Jays fan can remember who won the World Series that year.

A Closer Look at the Stages of Grief

In an earlier post, I mentioned the restructuring at my company that saw my team lose two colleagues. In the aftermath of the change, I heard a five-word mantra repeated by those who remained: denial – anger – bargaining – depression - acceptance.

In retrospect, I should not have been surprised. After all, it is almost a cliché to refer to the five stages of Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s model for how people deal with loss. According to the model, almost everyone experiences these five reactions when facing a loss, even if the specific timing and sequence of the stages varies by individuals.

The model is commonly involved in times of change – especially in times of imposed change – and yet Ruth David Konigsberg, the author of The Truth About Grief, suggests a number of reasons why Kübler-Ross’ framework is an imperfect response:

·         It was originally created to describe people’s reaction to their own impending death, not to describe grief or reactions to change or loss

·         The theory is based on anecdotal evidence rather than empirical data

·         Kübler-Ross originally viewed the five categories as responses to impending death and not as stages in a process

·         Other authors applied the Kübler-Ross model to grief, change, and loss without engaging in studies to determine whether it actually applied

·         The Kübler-Ross model and similar models fail to take into account how resilient people are

·         Recent studies suggest that people who embrace and learn from new experiences feel less stress than people who avoid or feel threatened by them

·         There is no empirical evidence that people respond to change or loss – including job loss or organizational restructuring – the same way they respond to death or grieving

Naturally, Konigsberg is not without her own detractors but her book does raise some interesting questions. Kübler-Ross’ five stages are probably too entrenched in the collective wisdom of our times to be discarded entirely, and perhaps that’s not entirely bad. After all, it forces people to acknowledge the emotional impact of loss and downsizing and other kinds of change.

On the other hand, it should not be trotted out in times of change as a way of giving people “permission” to have feelings about change. I don’t know about you, but I do not require permission to have emotions and I certainly do not like being told how I should be feeling. I guess in the end, Kübler-Ross and her model, like so much other conventional wisdom, deserves a closer look.

For more information, check out:

The Truth About Grief – The Myth of Its Five Stages and the New Science of Loss
Ruth David Konigsberg
ISBN-10: 1439148333; ISBN-13: 978-1439148334

It Is What It Is - Or Is It?

Have you ever noticed how certain phrases pop up and quickly imbed themselves into the collective consciousness of our society? Case in point:

“It is what it is”.

I am not entirely sure how long the phrase has been around. I do know that I had not heard it until I started a new job four years ago, and boy did I ever hear it then. People said it in meetings. They shared it in private conversations. I even overheard it in elevator conversations.

Pretty soon I started hearing the phrase in public. People used it in subway conversations. Kids used it in the mall. It showed up on television shows. My mom even included it in an email message.

 “It is what it is.”

It’s a common phrase. It’s also incomplete. You see, there’s a second half of the saying that people almost always forget. And so, as a public service, let me share the complete phrase with you:

 “It is what it is – but that isn’t the way it has to be.”

Transformation from the Trenches

There are a number of clichés in the business world, but the one that irritates me the most is the concept that:

Business = War

I have never been to war, thank goodness, but I think we all know the analogy is an exaggeration.  Business is business. It can be tough and it can be nasty, but it usually isn't fatal. And yet, I slipped right into the business is war cliché yesterday when the firm I work for went through a round of restructuring-related terminations yesterday.

My team experienced its losses early in the morning, which was bad enough. I suppose you could even say we even felt a little shell-shocked. As the day progressed, word of cuts in other departments slowly made their way through the staff grapevine. I felt like someone waiting on the home front as the casualty lists percolated in.

Radio Free Griot: Senegal Fast Food

I love music. I love all types of music played by all types of musicians. I can't imagine even a day without music.

I love music so much that I thought I'd go in a different direction today and share one of my favourite songs. I listen to it in the car on the way to work. I listen to it at my desk on my MP3 player. I listen to it when I'm at my computer at home. It's a great song and it never fails to pump me up.

The song is called "Senegal Fast Food" and it was recorded by Amadou et Miriam (with the rather extensive assistance of Manu Chao). As if the song isn't awesome enough on its own, there is also a fantastic official video.

The Tyranny of Ten

The last webinar I attended got me thinking, but not in the way the presenters had intended. The session offered to teach me about ten social media skills that learning and development professionals should know. It started on time; the obligatory “commercial” at the beginning of the session was not too long; and the facilitator kept the discussion focused on the topic. And yet the discussion about the last three or four skills was hurried and, dare I say, incomplete.

Blame it on David Letterman. Or maybe Moses is at fault. Perhaps evolution or an intelligent designer is culpable. In the end, it doesn’t really matter – trainers seem to be tyrannized by the number ten. How else can you explain the surplus of seminars, workshops, and webinars offering participants “Ten (fill-in-the-blank-with-the-word-or-words-of-your-choice)”?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not exactly a “deca-virgin”. I’ve been known to take the easy way out myself on occasion. I’ve done my share of lame Letterman-inspired count downs. I’ve come down from the mountaintop with my own list of pseudo-Mosaic commandments. The thing is, though, I’m beginning to wonder why it’s always ten.

Sure, ten is attractive. It’s a nice round number. We can count it on our fingers. We’ve been conditioned to think in terms of lists or commandments, so a session that offers ten magical fixes is bound to attract an audience. Ten just feels right. I mean, what would people think if we only offered them seven best practices, six lessons, or five proven strategies?

Maybe that’s the problem – ten just feels right. But don’t you think that learners would feel even better if we were able to finish a workshop or a webinar without rushing through the last third of the material?

The Situational Luddite

I admit it – I’m a Luddite.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Luddite in the classic sense. I don’t go around smashing textile machinery. I don’t even work in the textile industry. Having said that, a friend once observed that there are a lot of eighty-year olds who adopt new technologies sooner than I do.

If you don’t believe me, just consider the following evidence:

Exhibit 1:     In a department of smart phone users, I have a simple cell phone.

 Exhibit 2:    When broadcasters switched from analog to high-definition this past summer, I lost all of my television channels because I don’t have cable.

Exhibit 3:    Even if I did have cable, I’d have to get out of my seat to change the channel because my television is 22 years old.

The evidence is overwhelming: I am nowhere near being an early adopter of technology. So why on earth am I so excited about the new software program that I recently had installed on my computer?

I suppose it all comes down to the circumstances. Show me an innovative technology and I will probably be as impressed as the next guy. I may even be an early adopter. (Case in point: I became an early and enthusiastic text messenger after seeing it in action while on a business trip to the UK.)

On the other hand, if I don’t see a practical application for a technology I tend to file it away in the back of my mind until I figure out a use. The more use I see for a new tool, the more enthusiastically I adopt it. With apologies to Dr. Paul Hersey, I guess you could call me a Situational Luddite.

But aren't we all?

The Innovator's DNA

Innovation is the philosopher’s stone of the business world. It can turn leaden, boring offerings into shiny, golden success. It can rejuvenate moribund firms and revitalize stagnant organizations. It may even hold the secret to achieving corporate immortality. At least, that's a commonly heard theme these days.

The generations of alchemists who sought to reveal the mysteries of the philosopher's stone have been replaced by a new generation seeking to unlock the secrets of successful innovation. Earlier this week I had the chance to attend a webinar hosted by two of the best: Clay Christensen and Hal Gregersen. The professors have written a number of books and articles about "disruptive innovators" -- creative minds like Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com, and the iconic Steve Jobs of Apple who change the way business is done.

The webinar, The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovation, attempted to answer two critical questions: how do disruptive innovators think differently, and can other people learn how to do it too? The answer to the second question is a firm "yes, you can learn to think like successful disruptors". And according to Christensen and Gregersen, the way you do it is by practicing five skills that anyone can learn:

1.      Associational Thinking - Disruptive innovators associate things that are normally not associated. They see connections that other people don't see. They make connections that other people would not have considered.

2.      Questioning - Disruptive innovators constant questioning the world. They question what is happening. They question what might happen if a variable were to change. They question why things are done the way they are done. They question why things are not done in a different way.

3.      Observing - Disruptive innovators notice things. They focus on what is happening. They focus on what is not happening. They look for surprising and unexpected things.

4.      Networking - Disruptive innovators do not just watch -- they also talk with people. They seek out people with different points of view. They seek ideas from people who are not like them -- people from different professions, of different genders, from different backgrounds, of different ages, and with different interests. They listen to what people say.

5.      Experimenting - Disruptive innovators try out new things. They seek new experiences. They are open to new ideas. They take products, processes, and ideas apart and put them together in different ways. When they get new ideas, they try them out. If they fail, they modify them and try them out again.

Mastering the skills of disruptive innovators requires more than attending a 60-minute webinar. It takes more than reading a book (although The Innovator's DNA is at the top of my list of books to read next). Luckily, every day provides opportunities to practice the five skills that will help me become a disruptive innovator.